Tuesday, 1 May 2012

Putting vegans in charge of the chicken coop

A supermarket and two independent retailers have had their alcohol licence application rejected after objections from the local health board.

WHAT?!?

Sainsbury’s wanted to open a new store in the Cowgate, Edinburgh as part of the development of a site which was destroyed by a fire in 2002.
NHS Lothian warned the Edinburgh Licensing Board that granting the licence went against the protection of public health.

Are you kidding me? What kind of moron would give bureaucrats from the NHS the power to reject planning applications?

The Scottish Government have recently given health boards the chance to object to new licences.

Oh, sweet devolution. This is local option for the twenty-first century—the preferred halfway house for would-be prohibitionists since time immemorial.

New guidelines were introduced in Edinburgh in February to prevent overprovision.

If only there was some other way to prevent over (or under) provision. If only we had some sort of mechanism whereby 'supply' fluctuated to meet 'demand'. In such a system, businesses would carry out research into whether there was sufficient demand for their services before investing and would go bust if their research was wrong. We could call this system a market.

NHS Lothian is not in the least bit interested in letting grown adults buy what they want, especially if those adults are working class. This is a case of middle class hypocrites clamping down on the plebs. You think I exaggerate? Read this...

Earlier this year, Tesco avoided a ban by arguing that residents of Roseburn are healthy and middle class.
They were given the go-ahead for a new licensed shop after a lawyer argued the residents of upmarket Roseburn were “bottle of wine on the way home” drinkers.

Wow. Rarely is fear and loathing of the proletariat made more explicit than this.

To help crack down on lenient licensing, Police were also asked to supply the board with evidence which showed there had been 85 crimes within a 50m radius of the proposed store between last month and the previous March 2011.

Well, duh. It's a rundown area in need of regeneration, which would have been provided by building a supermarket, cleaning up the area and creating jobs. None of which will happen now because some unelected mandarins at the NHS find it morally objectionable that supermarkets sell alcohol.

A concerned resident in the Cowgate, Catriona Grant, submitted a public objection to the board.

So let me get this straight. A perfectly respectable supermarket chain has been prevented from opening a new shop because a socialist "avenger" objects to the existence of supermarkets and a bunch of self-styled public health experts don't like working people buying alcohol. What other outcome can there be when you hand power over to this rabble of unelectable reactionaries?

Hmmmm, not really—the Cowgate sits under but parallel to the Royal Mile. It is right at the centre of town and at the other end of the Grassmarket from the "pubic triangle".

So, what it is is the destination for students and residents who want to get absolutely off their tits. It is also the prime destinations for Stag and Hen dos from miles around, especially Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, etc.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing is A Trend. NYC Bloomberg's DOH (which does nothing he doesn't pre- approve of) has floated trial balloons about limiting the number of bars per neighborhood and ending what're known as "happy hours" when bars serve liquor at a discount.

So far, the press here has given these ideas the raspberry, which doesn't mean they won't keep being proposed, while the propaganda ramps up and the "polls" showing public support are faked, till one day: voila!

The Cowgate - I remember a wonderful pub there where advocates would congregate and you could hear the most wonderful gossip as their tongues loosened. There were also plenty of sad, wee down-and-outs in the Cowgate. A mixed bag in the Scottish style - a Sainsbury's would only add to the fun.

My local Wetherspoon was yesterday advertising draught bitter at £1.85 a pint - less than a typical pint of pub beer cost in July 2007. Anyone who wanted to drink in a pub in 2007 wouldn't be now put off by price alone.

About Me

Writer and researcher at the Institute of Economic Affairs. Blogging in a personal capacity.
Author of Selfishness, Greed and Capitalism (2015), The Art of Suppression (2011), The Spirit Level Delusion (2010) and Velvet Glove, Iron Fist (2009).

Elsewhere

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."